COS111: Introduction to Computing Sciences

Lecture Note 1

INTRODUCTION

The computer is fast becoming the universal machine of the twenty-first century.
Early computers were large and too expensive to be owned by individuals. Thus, they
were confined to the laboratories and few research institutes. They could only be
programmed by computer engineers. The basic applications were confined to
undertaking complex calculations in science and engineering. Today, the computer
is no longer confined to the laboratory. Computers, and indeed, computing have
become embedded in almost every item we use. Computing is fast becoming
ubiquitous. Its application in engineering, communication, space science, aviation,
financial institutions, social sciences, humanities, the military, transportation,
manufacturing, and the extractive industries to mention but a few.

Definitions of a Computer

A computer is an electronic device that takes raw data as input from the user and
processes these data under the control of a set of instructions (called program)
gives the result (output) and saves output for future use. It can process both
numerical and non-numerical (arithmetic and logical) calculations.

Simply put, a computer is an electronic device, operating under the control of

instructions stored in its own memory that can accept data (input), process the
data according to specified rules, produce information (output), and store the
information for future use

Computer Components

Generally speaking, any kind of computers consists of HARDWARE AND

SOFTWARE. These strands are discussed below:

Hardware

Computer hardware is the collection of physical elements that constitutes a computer

system. Computer hardware refers to the physical parts or components of a computer
such as the monitor, mouse, keyboard, computer data storage, hard drive disk (HDD),
system unit (graphic cards, sound cards, memory, motherboard and chips), etc. all of
which are physical objects that can be touched, see and feel.
Input Devices

Input device is any peripheral (piece of computer hardware equipment) that provide
data and control signals to an information processing system such as a computer or
other information appliance.

Input device Translate data from form that humans understand to one that the
computer can work with. Most common are keyboard and mouse. Below are some
examples of input device:

Note: The most commonly used keyboard is the QWERTY keyboard. Generally
standard Keyboard has 104 keys.

Output devices
An output device is any piece of computer hardware equipment used to communicate
the results of data processing carried out by an information processing system (such
as a computer) which converts the electronically generated information into human
readable form.

Examples of Output Devices:

Note: Basic types of monitors are

a. Cathode Ray Tube (CRT).

b. Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD).
c. light-emitting diode (LED).

Printer types:

a. Laser Printer.
b. Ink Jet Printer.
c. Dot Matrix Printer

Software

Software is a generic term for organized collections of computer data and instructions,
often broken into two major categories: system software that provides the basic non-
task-specific functions of the computer, and application software which is used by
users to accomplish specific tasks.

Software Types
 A. System software is responsible for controlling, integrating, and managing the
individual hardware components of a computer system so that other software
and the users of the system see it as a functional unit without having to be
concerned with the low-level details such as transferring data from memory to
disk, or rendering text onto a display. Generally, system software consists of an
operating system and some fundamental utilities such as disk formatters, file
managers, display managers, text editors, user authentication (login) and
management tools, and networking and device control software.
B. Application software is used to accomplish specific tasks other than just
running the computer system. Application software may consist of a single
program, such as an image viewer; a small collection of programs (often called a
software package) that work closely together to accomplish a task, such as a
spreadsheet or text processing system; a larger collection (often called a software
suite) of related but independent programs and packages that have a common
user interface or shared data format, such as Microsoft Office, which consists of
closely integrated word processor, spreadsheet, database, etc.; or a software
system, such as a database management system, which is a collection of
fundamental programs that may provide some service to a variety of other
independent applications.

Comparing Application Software and System Software

Functions of a Computer

Any digital computer carries out four functions in gross terms. These functions are:

i. Takes data input

ii. Stores the data/instructions in its memory and uses them when required
iii. Processes the data and converts it into useful information
iv. Generates the output

Three major steps in the above functions of a computer is shown in the diagram
below:

Brief History of a Computer

A complete history of computing would include a multitude of diverse devices such

as the ancient Chinese abacus, the Jacquard loom (1805), and Charles Babbage’s
“analytical engine” (1834). It would also include a discussion of mechanical, analog,
and digital computing architectures. As late as the 1960s, mechanical devices, such
as the Merchant calculator, still found widespread application in science and
engineering. During the early days of electronic computing devices, there was much
discussion about the relative merits of analog vs. digital computers. As late as the
1960s, analog computers were routinely used to solve systems of finite difference
equations arising in oil reservoir modeling. In the end, digital computing devices
proved to have the power, economics, and scalability necessary to deal with large-
scale computations. Digital computers now dominate the computing world in all
areas ranging from the hand calculator to the supercomputer and are pervasive
throughout society. Therefore, this brief sketch of the development of scientific
computing is limited to the area of digital, and electronic computers.

The evolution of digital computing is often divided into generations. Each generation
is characterized by dramatic improvements over the previous generation in the
technology used to build computers, the internal organization of computer systems,
and programming languages. Although not usually associated with computer
generations, there has been a steady improvement in algorithms, including algorithms
used in computational science. The following history has been organized using these
widely recognized generations as mileposts.

The First Generation (1940 – 1956)

• The first computers used vacuum tubes for circuitry and magnetic drums
for memory, and were often enormous, taking up entire rooms.

• They were very expensive to operate and in addition to using a great deal of
electricity, generated a lot of heat, which was often the cause of malfunctions

• First generation computers relied on machine language, the lowest-level

programming language understood by computers, to perform operations and
they could only solve one problem at a time.

• Input was based on punched cards and paper tape, and output was displayed
on printouts

Vacuum tube
The Second Generation (1956 – 1963)

• Transistors replaced vacuum tubes and ushered in the second generation of

computers.

• One transistor replaced the equivalent of 40 vacuum tubes

• Allowing computers to become smaller, faster, cheaper, more energy-efficient

and more reliable

• Still generated a great deal of heat that can damage the computer.

• Second-generation computers moved from cryptic binary machine language

to symbolic, or assembly, languages, which allowed programmers to specify
instructions in words

• Second-generation computers still relied on punched cards for input and

printouts for output.

• These were also the first computers that stored their instructions in their
memory, which moved from a magnetic drum to magnetic core technology

Transistor

The Third Generation (1964 – 1971)

• The development of the integrated circuit was the hallmark of the third
generation of computers.

• Transistors were miniaturized and placed on silicon chips, called

semiconductors, which drastically increased the speed and efficiency of
computers.
 • Much smaller and cheaper compared to the second generation computers.

• It could carry out instructions in billionths of a second.

• Users interact with third generation computers through keyboards and

monitors and interfaced with an operating system, which allows the device to
run many different applications at one time with a central program that
monitors the memory.

• Computers for the first time became accessible to a mass audience because
they were smaller and cheaper than their predecessors

Integrated Circuit

The Fourth Generation (1971 – today)

• The microprocessor brought the fourth generation of computers, as

thousands of integrated circuits were built onto a single silicon chip.

• As these small computers became more powerful, they could be linked

together to form networks, which eventually led to the development of the
Internet.

• Fourth generation computers also saw the development of GUIs, the mouse
and handheld devices.
Microprocessor

The Fifth Generation (Today to

future) • Based on Artificial
Intelligence (AI).

• Still in development.

• The use of parallel processing and superconductors is helping to make

artificial intelligence a reality

The goal is to develop devices that respond to natural language input and are capable
of learning and self-organization.

Classification of Computer
Computers can be classified in various ways depending on different factors like size,
functionality, processing power, and purpose. Here’s an overview of the primary
classifications:

Classification of Computer based on Size and Power

1. Super-computers: Supercomputers are the most high-performing systems. A

supercomputer is a computer with a high level of performance compared to a
 general-purpose computer. The actual Performance of a supercomputer is
measured in FLOPS instead of MIPS. All of the world’s fastest 500
supercomputers run Linux-based operating systems. Additional research is
being conducted in China, the US, the EU, Taiwan, and Japan to build even
faster, more high-performing, and more technologically superior
supercomputers. Supercomputers play an important role in the field of
computation and are used for intensive computation tasks in various fields,
including quantum mechanics, weather forecasting, climate research, oil and
gas exploration, molecular modeling, and physical simulations. and also,
throughout history, supercomputers have been essential in the field of
cryptanalysis. For example, PARAM, jaguar, roadrunner.

2. Mainframe computers: These are commonly called as big iron, they are
usually used by big organizations for bulk data processing such as statistics,
census data processing, and transaction processing and are widely used as
servers as these systems have a higher processing capability as compared to
the other classes of computers, most of these mainframe architectures were
established in the 1960s, the research and development worked continuously
over the years and the mainframes of today are far more better than the earlier
ones, in size, capacity and efficiency. For example: IBM z Series, System z9
and System z10 servers.

3. Mini computers: These computers came into the market in mid 1960s and
were sold at a much cheaper price than the mainframes, they were designed
for control, instrumentation, human interaction, and communication switching
as distinct from the calculation and record keeping, later they became very
popular for personal uses with evolution.
In the 60s to describe the smaller computers that became possible with the use
of transistors and core memory technologies, minimal instruction sets and less
expensive peripherals such as the ubiquitous Teletype Model 33 ASR. They
usually took up one or a few inch rack cabinets, compared with the large
mainframes that could fill up a room.

4. Micro-computers: A microcomputer is a small, relatively inexpensive

computer with a microprocessor as its CPU. It includes a microprocessor,
 memory, and minimal I/O circuitry mounted on a single printed circuit board.
The previous computers, mainframes and minicomputers, were comparatively
much larger, hard to maintain, and more expensive. They formed the
foundation for present-day microcomputers and smart gadgets that we use in
our day-to-day lives. For example, Tablets and smartwatches.

Classification of Computer based on functionality

1. Servers: Servers are nothing but dedicated computers which are set up to offer
some services to the clients. They are named depending on the type of service
they offer.

2. Workstation: These are the computers designed primarily to be used by a

single user at a time. They run multi-user operating systems. They are the ones
that we use for our day-to-day personal/commercial work.

3. Information Appliances: They are portable devices that are designed to

perform a limited set of tasks like basic calculations, playing multimedia,
browsing the internet, etc. They are generally referred to as mobile devices.
They have very limited memory and flexibility and generally run on an “as-is”
basis.

4. Embedded computers: They are computing devices that are used in other
machines to serve a limited set of requirements. They follow instructions from
the non-volatile memory and they are not required to execute reboot or reset.
The processing units used in such devices work to those basic requirements
only and are different from the ones that are used in personal computers-
better known as workstations.

Classification based on data handling

1. Analog: An analog computer is a form of computer that uses the continuously-

changeable aspects of physical fact such as electrical, mechanical, or hydraulic
quantities to model the problem being solved. Anything variable concerning
time and continuous can be claimed as analog just like an analog clock measures
 time using the distance travelled for the spokes of the clock around the circular
dial.

2. Digital: A computer that performs calculations and logical operations with

quantities represented as digits, usually in the binary number system of “0” and
“1”, a computer capable of solving problems by processing information
expressed in discrete form. from manipulation of the combinations of the binary
digits, it can perform mathematical calculations, organize and analyze data,
control industrial and other processes, and simulate dynamic systems such as
global weather patterns.

3. Hybrid: A computer that processes both analog and digital data, a Hybrid
computer is a digital computer that accepts analog signals, converts them to
digital, and processes them in digital form.

Textbooks

1. Brands, Gilbert (2013). Introduction to Computer Science: A Textbook for

Beginners in Informatics.
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013
ISBN 10:1492827843 ISBN 13: 9781492827849
https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?isbn=9781492827849

2. Perry Donham (2018). Introduction to Computer Science

ISBN 1516571738 (ISBN13: 9781516571734)
Publisher: Cognella Academic Publishing
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42834356-introduction-to-computer-
science